Olbermann began by recalling Mike Huckabee's suggestion earlier this week that we need "to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards."

"First he wanted the Constitution revised to line up with the Bible," Olberman stated, "a construction so bizarre that even an interviewer at Beliefnet.com said, 'Some people would consider that a kind of dangerous undertaking, particularly given the variety of Biblical interpretations.' To which the Huckster answered, he doesn't think it's radical. 'The radical view is to say we're going to change the definition so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man -- an animal.'"

"Here we go," Olbermann noted wearily. "Two men getting married is the same as pedophilia or bestiality. The same blinkered irrationality that got Rick Santorum run out of the Senate."

Huckabee's remarks have provided an easy target for snarky comments from blogs such as Shakespeare's Sister, which wrote "Shut the fuck up, you crazy, ignorant, despicable bigot. You've got a brain of mush and a heart of stone—and if you can't understand the easily discernible difference between a relationship involving consenting adults whose bedroom activities impinge on no one else's rights, and a pathological sexuality in which the notion of consent is wholly absent, then you are too stupid to be president."

Olbermann, however, saw an opportunity to make better use of Huckabee's remark, which referenced not only bestiality but also polygamy -- a practice sanctioned until 1890 by the Mormon Church, of which his rival Mitt Romney is a member.

"But a man and three women?" Olbermann concluded, smirking broadly and giving Huckabee a thumbs-up. "Nice drive-by swipe at the Romney family tree!"

This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast January 17, 2008.